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Amichai Chikli

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Amichai Chikli
Chikli in 2022
Ministerial roles
2022–2024Minister for Social Equality
2022–Minister of Diaspora Affairs
Faction represented in the Knesset
2021–2022Yamina
2022Independent
2022–2023Likud
Personal details
Born (1981-09-12) 12 September 1981 (age 43)
Jerusalem, Israel

Amichai Chikli (Hebrew: עמיחי שיקלי, born 12 September 1981)[1] is an Israeli politician who serves as the Minister of Diaspora Affairs. He served in the 24th Knesset as part of the Yamina party slate, and in the 25th Knesset as part of Likud.

Biography

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Chikli was born in Jerusalem, in 1981 to a Tunisian Jewish family. He is the son of Rabbi Eitan Chikli and artist Camille Chikli. In 2022, Eitan led the Universidad Hebraica in Mexico City. The family lived in Kibbutz Hanaton, the only kibbutz founded by the Masorti movement.[2]

After completing high school, he spent a year in Ma'ayan Baruch attending the Social Leadership Institute.[3] He then joined the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Golani Brigade and the Shayetet 13 naval unit.[3][2] He subsequently studied for a bachelor's degree in security and Middle Eastern studies at the Tactical Command Academy, after which he became a company commander in the Egoz Unit. After leaving the army he began studying for a master's degree in diplomacy and security at Tel Aviv University.[3] During his studies he established the Tavor Academy for Social Leadership in Nazareth Illit in 2010.[3]

Political career

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Entering politics, Chikli was ninth on the New Right list for the April 2019 elections,[4] but the party failed to win a seat.[5] He was then fifth on the Yamina list,[1] for the 2021 elections and elected a Member of the Knesset (MK) when Yamina won seven seats. After Yamina joined a coalition government that included Meretz and an Arab party, Chikli voted against the new government in its investiture vote on 13 June 2021, the only Yamina MK to do so.[6] In July 2021, he voted against the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law that would prevent Palestinians from marrying Israelis and receiving citizenship, resulting in its failure to pass in a 59–59 tie vote.[7]

Chikli voted against his party a total of 754 times, regularly assisting the opposition.[8] On 25 April 2022, a Knesset committee voted 7–0 in favour of a request from Yamina to declare him a "retiree", meaning he could only run for the Knesset as part of a new party. Chikli was only the third Knesset member to be declared a retiree.[citation needed]

Chikli resigned from the Knesset in July 2022 to run on the Likud list in the 2022 legislative election, and was given the list's 14th spot.[9][10] Judge Yitzhak Amit, chairman of the Central Election Committee, initially disqualified Chikli from running on the Likud list based on the allegation that Chikli violated election law in resigning from the Knesset only a few months after announcing his withdrawal from his party. Likud appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned his disqualification on 9 October.[11][12][13] He was subsequently elected to the Knesset and sworn in on 29 December, before resigning on 17 January 2023 under the Norwegian Law after being named Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.[14][15][2]

Diaspora Affairs Minister

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In 2023 Chikli stated that the Palestinian Authority is a "neo-Nazi entity" and antisemitic and that it was necessary to "examine alternatives to its existence".[16]

He accused former Prime Minister Yair Lapid of spearheading the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, because of his criticism of Itamar Ben-Gvir.[17]

Chikli has referred to left-wing Jewish organization J Street as a "hostile organization that harms the interests of the state of Israel", and accused Jewish philanthropist George Soros, who donated to the organization, of "[financing] the most hostile organizations to the Jewish people and the state of Israel".[18]

In July 2024 Haaretz accused Chikli of actively supporting Marine le Pen, the French nationalist leader. [19]

In September 2024 he stated that the IDF had the right to 'take over' areas in Southern Lebanon from which missiles could be fired into Israel.[20]

Political views

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Chikli is harshly critical of the Reform Judaism movement in Israel.[2]

Personal

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Chikli lives on Kibbutz Hanaton and occasionally attends the kibbutz's Conservative synagogue.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b בחירות 2021: חברי הכנסת ה-24 מטעם מפלגת ימינה Mako, 5 April 2021
  2. ^ a b c d e Gross, Judah (2022-12-29). "Amichai Chikli, son of a Conservative rabbi, named Diaspora affairs minister". Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Amichai Chikli Schusterman
  4. ^ הימין החדש בראשות שקד ובנט Central Elections Committee
  5. ^ Reform rabbi, Kahanist agitator, firebrand writer: The new Knesset's 16 rookies The Times of Israel, 26 March 2021
  6. ^ Wootliff, Raoul (13 June 2021). "Bennett sworn in as prime minister, unseating Netanyahu after 12 years in power". The Times of Israel.
  7. ^ Yamina Maverick's Fate Uncertain Hamodia, 7 July 2021
  8. ^ Shpigel, Noa (2022-04-25). "Bennett Scores Victory as Renegade Party Member Declared Defector". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  9. ^ Bardugo, Jacob (15 July 2022). "The Right is losing its way". Israel Hayom.
  10. ^ "הליכוד בהנהגת בנימין נתניהו לראשות הממשלה". Government of Israel.
  11. ^ Bardugo, Jacob (29 September 2022). "דרמה בוועדת הבחירות: מועמדותו של עמיחי שיקלי נפסלה, הליכוד יעתור לבג"ץ". Ynet.
  12. ^ Breuer, Eliav (28 September 2022). "Elections 2022: Amichai Chikli disqualified from running on Likud list". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Israel's top court rules Amichai Chikli can run on Likud list". i24NEWS. 9 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  14. ^ "ח"כ שיקלי התפטר במסגרת החוק הנורווגי, עמית הלוי יכנס במקומו". Arutz Sheva (in Hebrew). 2023-01-15. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  15. ^ "חבר הכנסת עמיחי שיקלי". Knesset (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  16. ^ staff, T. O. I. "Diaspora minister: 'Neo-Nazi' Palestinian Authority is 'antisemitic to its core'". The Times of Israel.
  17. ^ "Minister Chikli: Lapid the spearhead of the BDS movement". Israel National News. 2023-01-04.
  18. ^ JTA and ToI Staff (2023-06-13). "Diaspora Minister Chikli calls J Street 'hostile' amid tussle over photo". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  19. ^ Tibon, Amir (July 8, 2024). "'A Diplomatic Bomb': Israel's Diaspora Minister Rallied Behind Le Pen, and Israeli Diplomats Are Livid". haaretz.com. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  20. ^ "Israeli Diaspora Minister Chikli Claims Lebanon Does Not Meet Criteria of Statehood on Social Media". Haaretz. 22 September 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
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